I thought this would be an excellent thread for everyone to help each other out by sharing or asking about different techniques. Hope you guys think so too!
I've worked with all types of materials over the years and have some great ways of dealing with issues that come up, especially in dealing with old and fragile materials.
For dealing with fragile papers and fibers, or anything porous, I found an acrylic resin that's used by museum conservators. It works really well, but is kind of expensive. (Never buy the liquid form - it will dry out so you'd have to mix it with acetone again anyway, and it's far more expensive to purchase it that way.) It's called acryloid B-72 in the U.S. and paraloid B-72 in the U.K. It comes in a pellet form and you basically mix it with acetone to dissolve it. They recommend the art store type of acetone, and if cost isn't a problem, you can do that. If cost is a concern, use the kind of acetone available in hardware/home improvement stores.
The great thing about the acryloid is that you can, once it melts, dip the object to be preserved and strengthened, or paint it on with a brush. It has to be a porous item - there are different solutions to preserve metal, but this isn't one. Another fantastic thing about it is that you can use pigments in the acryloid to do a transparent or opaque coating. If it's too shiny, you can get a lint free cloth and go over it lightly with a bit of acetone in the cloth so you dull it down. There's no waste - if you have drips of the acryloid on your glass container, you just peel them off and pop them back into the acryloid jar as long as they are clean. It's best to get a jar from a hobby store that's meant for chemicals. If you use a regular jar that has any type of plastic on the lid, the acetone will mush it, and it will drop into your acryloid!
Some people simply recycle clear acrylics to use as you would the acryloid pellets and I haven't heard any negatives about doing that. I think it might be difficult to always be sure that what you are recycling is truly acrylic, so it pays to be careful.
Never assume that you can use this or any chemical without gloves. I think it's easy to forget that acetone is a poison - it evaporates, we use it in removing nail polish, and in a rush it's easy to forget, but don't! You can get nitrile gloves that will protect you.
I've included a link to Texas A & M's conservation section - it's an interesting read! If anyone has questions about it, post and I'll be glad to help if I can!
http://nautarch.tamu.edu/crl/conservationmanual/File2.htm#Acryloid%20B-72
